Rob Holding has revealed the details of a phone call he had with Mikel Arteta after the centre-back agreed to leave the club for Crystal Palace.

Former Arsenal defender Rob Holding left the club for Crystal Palace over the summer, following a long spell with the Gunners.

Holding had played for Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, joining from Bolton Wanderers all the way back in 2016, and he played 162 times across seven seasons for the club.

Eventually, it became clear the team were heading in a different direction, and Holding swapped Arsenal for Palace.

Speaking on Harry Aikines’ YouTube channel last week, the defender revealed a conversation he had with Mikel Arteta afterwards.

“He actually rang me when I left and just said like thank you for everything, like you were there from the start of his reign at Arsenal till the end,” Holding recalled (via TBR).

“That was nice because you very rarely get that. He’s quite an intense guy, so to have that sort of just relaxed conversation with him was nice and to just sort of give me that approval.

“I was like ‘you know what, I’m glad you’ve said that because it did make me feel good’.”

Holding is yet to kick on with Crystal Palace, struggling to break into the team in his first season.

The defender initially featured in every Palace squad for their first 10 games following his transfer, but he only made it onto the pitch once, for a League Cup game against Manchester United.

Since then, Holding has dropped out of the squad completely.

Roy Hodgson confirmed in a press conference last week that Holding is currently injured, but it’s not clear whether or not he’ll be playing when he returns to fitness.